ABmunis in the News: Q1, 2025
As the unified voice of our members, we work hard to bring attention to our members’ priorities. As Alberta’s leading voice on municipal matters, we were mentioned 1,250 times in news stories in the first quarter of 2025 (Q1, 2025). We are continually expanding our social media presence, engagement, and following across our primary platforms: LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. When ABmunis speaks, provincial government officials, opinion leaders, journalists, and many other Albertans hear what we have to say about your priority issues.
Bill 20 & potential changes in lead-up to 2025 municipal elections
Alberta Municipalities continued raising our members’ concerns about Bill 20, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, 2024, to the provincial government in the first quarter of 2025. We expressed concern about the banning of electronic vote tabulators in favour of slower and more expensive hand-counting of ballots.
Edmonton city councillor and ABmunis Director Andrew Knack (Cities over 500,000) spoke with CBC News about the potential impact of political parties in Edmonton’s upcoming municipal election in early January. The City of Medicine Hat said it is streamlining the nomination process for candidates in the next municipal election.
Lethbridge city council revisited the use of automated vote counting in early March. It sent a letter to the provincial government asking it to reconsider its ban on voting tabulators for the upcoming municipal election.
Grants in Place of Taxes (GIPOT)
We worked with members like the Town of Westlock and the City of Edmonton to raise public awareness of the provincial government’s partial payment of Grants in Place of Taxes (GIPOT) ahead of the Government of Alberta’s Budget 2025. The issue first attracted attention in September 2024, when members passed a resolution on GIPOT at our annual Convention.
More than a dozen municipalities sent letters to Premier Danielle Smith calling for a return to 2019 GIPOT funding levels. They said the provincial government had been inadequately funding them since the program was reduced by 50% in 2019. The Town of Westlock was among those municipalities that said the provincial government had been short-changing it on grant payments made in place of property taxes, leaving ratepayers to shoulder the extra costs.
Budget 2025
In mid-February, Alberta Municipalities urged the provincial government to increase funding for local infrastructure and restore full payment of GIPOT in its annual budget. An opinion piece by the Alberta Municipalities Board of Directors emphasized that without increased provincial support, municipalities might face raising property taxes or delaying essential projects. The Board also called for enhanced funding for Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) to support vulnerable populations. The piece ran in The Lethbridge Herald and eight other Alberta newspapers just prior to the provincial government’s introduction of Budget 2025.
President Tyler Gandam appeared on Chris Brown’s Municipal Affairs podcast on Feb. 21. The two discussed ABmunis’ expectations and hopes for this year’s provincial budget.
Within a day of Budget 2025’s introduction, ABmunis described it as a "mixed bag" for municipalities, and the association continued to call for more operational and capital support. The provincial government's increase to education property taxes, the discontinuation of the Local Government and Sustainability Grant, and static funding for Family and Community Support Services meant municipalities must fill the funding gap. The "biggest win" was the restoration of GIPOT, said President Gandam.
President’s Summit & Spring MLC
Two high-profile Alberta Municipalities events – the President’s Summit and the Spring Municipal Leaders’ Caucus (MLC) – took place in Edmonton in early March.
Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver spoke at the Spring MLC, defending his government's education property tax hike on March 6. He said the rising cost of education and the recent influx of thousands of more students made the increase necessary. He also expressed concern about the impact that American tariffs on Canadian goods will have on Albertans if they continue for too long. He said he feared the tariffs will take away people’s incomes and, at some point, will lead to job losses.
Premier Danielle Smith addressed Spring MLC delegates on March 7. She said the provincial government was determining its next steps after a tumultuous week in which the U.S.A. introduced steep tariffs and then pulled them back two days later. Smith said the unpredictability of President Donald Trump's plans created an "administrative and technical nightmare" for ABmunis members who rely on the many Alberta operators and exporters integrated into the American supply chain.
Policing & public safety
The Alberta government's new rules requiring mid-sized municipalities to create or join policing committees to oversee RCMP operations came into effect on March 1, but some municipalities were still deciding whether to join or opt out. President Gandam said there is a "bit of confusion" over what municipalities' roles and responsibilities are, calling the March 1 deadline a "moving target."
More than 800 community peace officers from 34 large and mid-sized communities immediately began coordinating their activities with local police forces on February 27 to deal more effectively with fentanyl trafficking and drug use in communities across Alberta. President Gandam said ABmunis was pleased to collaborate with the Government of Alberta on this important initiative. He said members welcomed the provincial government’s request for municipalities to align their community peace officers with police operations.
